In this course students study selected contemporary philosophical, literary, and journalistic discussions of questions regarding race, class, and gender with a particular emphasis on the status of these discussions in the United States. Students also survey theoretical accounts of the concepts of race, class, and gender, as well as their interrelatedness, and examine their application to various contemporary social issues.

This course introduces students to the main issues in political philosophy: the justification of political authority, role of law, political obligation, neocolonialism, disobedience, revolution, rights, the appropriate ends of government, patterns of distribution and justice.

This course is a comprehensive survey of the most important schools of thought and issues in feminist philosophy, with emphasis on feminist politics and ethics. Liberal, socialist, Marxist, and radical feminism and their differing views about equality and subjection are discussed. Criticisms of now traditional theories from women of color and of "difference" theorists are analyzed. Also considered are problems of particular concern to feminists: the family, sexuality, occupational freedom, harassment, rape, pornography, and domestic violence.

This course focuses on major political ideas of the modern world emphasized through a study of selected political theorists such as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hume, Burke, Hegel, Marx, Engels, Bentham, Mill, Jefferson, Madison, Lenin, and Mussolini. May be repeated to a maximum of nine semester hours.

This course is a survey of philosophical discussions of human rights and the moral and political questions arising from their violations. We examine the philosophical foundations for human rights claims, as well as women's human rights, political evil and mass atrocities. We analyze questions of justice and forgiveness in the context of social healing and democratization.

This course is a comprehensive survey of the most important schools of thought, traditional problems, and current issues in Anglo-American philosophy of law. Chief theories discussed are natural law, positivism, realism (including the law and economics movement), and critical legal studies (including race and gender theory). Also explored are different views about the interpretation of law and the role of the judiciary in American politics. Includes analysis of legal cases and consideration of issues such as justice, equality, liberty, privacy, and punishment.

This course is an exploration of a set of issues, a trend, or a school of thought in contemporary political philosophy. May be repeated to a maximum of nine semester hours.

This course critically examines schools of thought (e.g., liberalism, utilitarianism, Marxism, communitarianism, feminism), or of central issues (e.g., justice, equality, race) in social/political philosophy. May focus on historical or contemporary approaches and/or philosophers.